


Conclusions

by randi2204



Category: The Magnificent Seven (TV)
Genre: 2K Round-up Challenge, Embarrassment, F/M, Humor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-26
Updated: 2013-05-26
Packaged: 2017-12-13 00:04:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,411
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/817610
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/randi2204/pseuds/randi2204
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>Chris stepped out of the saloon, frowning at the street, full of people and none of them the one he wanted to see.  He’d been expecting Vin back hours ago, and hadn’t seen hide nor hair of him.</i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	Conclusions

**Author's Note:**

> **Disclaimer:** They belong to MGM, Mirisch and Trilogy. I suspect they’re glad of that.
> 
> **Notes:** The surprise pairing is a HET pairing, so if you are not inclined to that, please do not read. Also, if you have an embarrassment squick, it may be tripped by this. (If you really want to know the pairing, there are Additional Notes/Warnings at the end of the fic.)

Chris stepped out of the saloon, frowning at the street, full of people and none of them the one he wanted to see.  He’d been expecting Vin back hours ago, and hadn’t seen hide nor hair of him.

 

It wasn’t that he worried more about Vin than any of the others.  Just… ever since that fake marshal had come to town to take Vin back to Texas, Chris had started to keep a closer watch on Vin, make sure that he was all right.  The problem of the bounty had been cleared up right quick – Eli Joe was dead, but there was still a camp full of outlaws who’d heard every word he’d said, from framing Vin with Jess Kincaid’s murder to stringing him up outside of town.  Judge Travis had sent a letter to the authorities in Tascosa, outlining what had been said at trial, and it hadn’t been too long before Vin had received a letter clearing him of the charges.

 

Still, even though that problem had been cleaned up, not every bounty hunter might have heard Vin had been declared innocent, and wanted posters sometimes circulated for years.  _Better safe than sorry,_ Chris had thought, and kept just as close a watch as he had since Yates.

 

Vin knew that Chris was on the lookout for trouble over him, had told him more than once and in no uncertain terms that he could take care of himself.  In fact, that was what had brought about this particular trip out of town.  Well, in part, at least, because even before, Vin had left town on occasion just to get out of town.  Sometimes he’d go to Ko-Je’s village, or Tastanagi’s; sometimes he would just go further up in the mountains to find some solitude.

 

Chris glanced up the road and down, but through the swirl of people and horses, wagons and dust, he couldn’t make out Vin’s familiar form, or the shape of his horse.  He squinted up at the sun, but it told the same tale as Ezra’s pocket watch – it was long past noon, and Vin usually returned before the sun got high.

 

_Maybe he got held up with something,_ Chris thought, but then couldn’t think of what would keep Vin except for some kind of trouble.

 

Like as not it wasn’t anything, and Vin would ride up in a little while, radiating calm in that way he had, and Chris would wonder why he’d been so worried.

 

But Vin _wasn’t_ here right now, and Chris knew his tension was working on the others, too, making them all twitchy.  Ezra hadn’t exactly ordered him out, but he’d made it clear that there were better places, and certainly better ways, to take care of his nervous energy.

 

He was halfway down the street to the livery before he even realized he’d stepped off the boardwalk, but he didn’t pause.  _Well,_ Chris thought, _reckon I can stand him bein’ upset with me for ridin’ out to meet him.  And if somethin’_ did _hold him up… he might need help._   With that, he pulled open the livery door and entered.

 

As usual, the horses all pushed their heads over the stall doors, ears pricked curiously toward him.  He grabbed his tack box and rummaged through it, intending to bush his horse and push off the moment where he gave in to his worry a little longer before riding out.

 

He turned toward his horse’s stall, brush in hand, and stopped short.  There was a horse in the stall next to his own, munching on oats.  Chris moved closer, and Vin’s horse’s familiar white blaze gleamed in the dim light of the barn.

 

Chris rested his hand on the stall door, staring in something like disbelief as Vin’s horse continued to eat, and noticed that the manger was full of hay, currently ignored in favor of the rich grain.  Vin’s horse was _here_ , fed and groomed and in his usual stall.

 

Vin was back in town, not somewhere out there in trouble.

 

Chris threw the brush back in his tack box and slammed the lid before storming out of the livery.  _If Vin’s back, where the hell is he?  Why didn’t he let me know he was back, that he was all right?_

 

He paused on the boardwalk, forced himself to unclench his fists and shook his head at that thought.  _I ain’t Vin’s keeper,_ he reminded himself.  _Vin don’t have to…_ report _to me.  Just… woulda been nice to know._   He set off again, long legs eating up the distance between the livery and the saloon.

 

He slowed as he approached Mrs. Potter’s store.  _Maybe he just ain’t made it to the saloon yet,_ he thought, and paused just long enough to peer through the windows, trying to see if he could spot Vin at the counter.  No luck, but there were other places Vin might have stopped between the livery and the saloon.

 

But though he glanced in each window he passed, looking for Vin, Vin was nowhere to be found, and Chris wound up standing in front of the saloon once more, frowning in puzzlement.  He’d checked both sides of the street – the restaurant and Bucklin’s store and even the jail.  _How in the hell can he be in town and_ still _be missing?_ he wondered.

 

_Well, maybe he’s gone further up the street, or even gone back to the boarding house…_ Just as Chris decided that Vin would show up when he damned well pleased, his eye fell on the door to the Clarion, open slightly.  _Maybe Mary’s seen him,_ he thought, and strode down the boardwalk.  _Can’t hurt to ask, anyway.  She’s always pokin’ her nose in someone’s business._

 

There was no answer when he tapped on the door.  He pushed it wider, peering around it into the office where the air smelled of paper and ink. “Mary?” he called softly before stepping inside.  The last time he’d come in, she’d been completely engrossed in setting print at her table, and had jumped near a mile when he’d touched her shoulder.  She’d knocked over her tray of type letters, and they had spilled all over the place. He’d felt duty bound to help her pick them up again, even though he hadn’t meant to startle her so.

 

The whole time he’d been searching for the tiny bits of typeface, he’d had the feeling that she was… disappointed, somehow.  But then she’d smiled when he’d dumped his handful of letters back on her table, and he’d tried to tell himself that he was imagining things.

 

He hadn’t been in the Clarion since, though. 

 

And Mary herself wasn’t here now; the printing press was still, her worktable neat and orderly, the tray of letters safely covered.  _Must be she stepped out and didn’t latch the door,_ he thought.

 

He was just about to leave – maybe keep an eye on the door from outside the saloon – when he heard a thump, hard against the floor above his head, followed by the muffled tones of a man’s voice.

 

Chris went very still, listening for some other sign, something that might tell him where upstairs the man was, and if he was alone.  He pulled his gun and eased toward the stairs in the back of the building.

 

As he made his way up the stairs, slow and careful and wishing he’d had the time to take off his spurs, he heard the man’s voice again, indistinct, as if through a door, then nothing.

 

At the top of the stairs, he paused, straining his ears for some other clue.  _Can’t hear Mary,_ he thought, and slowly thumbed the hammer back on his gun.  _Maybe she isn’t even here…_ He knew that was probably a vain hope, but it was all he had to go on.

 

The hallway was short, with just a couple of doors on either side.  The only door that was closed was the one nearest where he stood.  Behind the door, he could hear movement but couldn’t make out anything more, not even whether the man inside was close to the door or not… or if Mary were in there, held hostage.  Every sound was blurred, indistinct through the wood.

 

Another thump drifted through the door, and the man spoke again, just the hint of noise reaching his ears.   _Maybe he tripped over something,_ Chris thought.  _Best get him now while he’s occupied…_ He laid his free hand on the doorknob, twisted it slowly, hoping it wouldn’t squeal, took a short breath to center himself.  Then he flung the door open, sending it crashing hard into the wall.

 

He paused in the doorway, taking in the tableau before him, and his mouth fell open in shock.

 

It was a bedroom – Mary’s bedroom, if the feminine touches were any indication.  And indeed, Mary lay on the bed, hair quite mussed and flowing loose over the pillow.  She stared at him with wide eyes.

 

Her arms were wrapped around the man whose voice Chris had heard, her legs over his hips, and her lips, parted as if to cry out, appeared well-kissed, pink and swollen.

 

She was naked, as was the man in her embrace.  Chris absorbed it all in an instant, because as soon as the door hit the inside wall, that man pitched himself off the bed.  He landed on the floor heavily and cursed, voice rough.

 

Without the door blocking the sound, that voice was quite familiar… as was the glimpse of startled blue eyes.

 

_Well,_ Chris thought, mind whirling in a daze, _at least I’ve found Vin…_

 

As soon as Vin dove off the other side of the bed, Mary shrieked and started scrabbling at the bedclothes, her cheeks shading from pink to red.  After only a moment, Vin stood, still on the far side of the bed, pulling up his trousers.  “Chris,” he said, his face as red as Mary’s.  “Chris, I…”

 

And quite suddenly, he realized he was staring at his friend, at _two_ of his friends, both of them naked, in a bedroom and from all evidence…

 

His lip twitched, and he had to struggle to keep himself under control.  Without a word, he stepped back, grabbing the door as he passed and pulling it gently shut as he left.

 

He managed to make it to the boardwalk before that control slipped, the utter absurdity of the situation descending upon him all at once.   Unable to contain it any longer, he laughed, hard and loud like he hadn’t for years, until he was leaning against the front of the building, breathless, his sides aching as he tried to collect himself.

 

_Wonder how long it’ll be before Vin follows me down,_ he thought, and rubbed along his side under his jacket.  _Well, he’ll maybe get Mary calmed down, at least a little…_   But thinking of Vin made him remember how Vin threw himself off the bed; it was too much, and he chuckled again.

 

It was only another few moments before Chris heard Vin’s boots thudding on the floorboards inside and had to rein himself in once more.  When Vin stepped out of the Clarion office, Chris was composed once more.

 

Despite being stiff with tension, Vin met his eyes without flinching.  “Didn’t think you were interested.”

 

It was a moment before that came clear, before Chris realized that he meant _interested in Mary_.  He shook his head, lips curved in a smile.  “I’m not.”

 

Vin’s brows pulled together in a frown.  He jerked his head back toward the building they’d just left.  “Then what…”

 

Chris tilted his head, indicating the door.  “I saw the door was open.  Just wanted to ask Mary something.  When I came in, I heard noises from upstairs, and Mary wasn’t about.” He shrugged. “Jumped to a conclusion I shouldn’t have.”

 

Slowly, Vin nodded, and just like that, everything was even between them again.  As one, they turned toward the saloon.  _Can’t imagine_ not _needin’ a drink after somethin’ like that,_ Chris thought.

 

Ezra stood in the doorway to the saloon, forearm over his head, leaning his shoulder against the frame.  His eyes flicked over them as they approached, his expression bland.  “Welcome back, Mister Tanner,” he offered, straightening and stepping aside to let them into the saloon.  “Mister Larabee was practically lost without you.”  He smirked as Chris leveled a glare at him, then settled his hat and strolled down the street.

 

After the others had offered Vin their greetings, Chris leaned back in his chair and let the whiskey burn a path in his gut.  Beside him, Vin tossed back his own drink, then pushed the glass back toward Chris, silently asking him to refill it.  Chris tipped the bottle and refilled both their glasses.

 

After they’d finished their seconds, Chris set his glass on the table, spun it in his long fingers.  “It isn’t gonna cause you any… trouble, is it, me bustin’ in like that?”

 

Vin glanced at him from the corner of his eye, then back down at his glass.  “Reckon not.” He lifted one shoulder in a half-shrug.  “Might remember to lock the door next time.”

 

Chris smiled at that, but said nothing.

 

Vin snorted softly and stood, chair scraping against the floor.  “Gonna go back over,” he said.  “Make sure she’s calmed down some.”

 

Chris nodded.  “Let her know I’ll be by tomorrow to offer my apologies.”

 

Vin gave a short nod in return and pushed out through the swinging doors.  After a short while, Chris followed him, but only as far as the chairs outside.  He settled into one, looking down toward the Clarion, but Vin had already disappeared.  He grinned and tugged his hat brim low.

 

Some time later, he heard the chair next to him creak as someone settled into it.  The flip and snap of pasteboard told him it was Ezra without needing to turn his head.  He did push his hat back up, however.

 

“Mister Larabee.”

 

“Ezra.”

 

A brief silence fell between them, broken as Ezra shifted his chair a little closer.  “Mister Larabee,” he said, voice low, “was there… some reason why you were laughing fit to burst earlier? Such a display of mirth was… unprecedented.”

 

Just thinking about it made Chris chuckle, and his sides twinged a warning.

 

“Chris?” Ezra sounded confused… and irritated at being confused besides.

 

Still smiling, Chris turned to Ezra.  “No reason,” he replied.  “No reason at all.”

 

***

June 23, 2012

**Author's Note:**

> The surprise pairing is Vin/Mary. This fic had the working title of _in flagrante delicto_ for the longest time... so now you know why I say embarrassment squick might be set off.


End file.
